Walvis Bay stepfather sentenced to 30 years for brutal murder of 5-year-old Dantali Eiseb

Horrendous. Brutal. Merciless.

These were the words judge Naomi Shivute used yesterday to describe the murder of a five-year-old boy, Dantali Eiseb, at Walvis Bay three years ago, before she sentenced the boy’s stepfather to an effective prison term of 30 years.

“The accused committed a horrendous offence of murder,” Shivute said during the sentencing of Dantali’s stepfather and killer, Riddick ‘Ricky’ Narib (33), in the Windhoek High Court.

Narib “brutally and mercilessly assaulted” Dantali, “who was innocent and vulnerable, and deprived him of his precious life”, Shivute recounted.
She also noted that after he had killed Dantali, Narib decided to torment the boy’s mother, Memory Eises, by sending a text message to her in which he stated that he had taken her son’s life.

Narib showed remorse by apologising to Eises and Dantali’s family, society and the court during his trial, but he could have solved his marital problems – which he said led to the murder – in a decent and civilised manner instead of resorting to killing an innocent boy, Shivute remarked as well.

Narib admitted guilt on charges of murder, read with the provisions of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act, and obstructing the course of justice three weeks ago.

He admitted that he murdered Dantali at Walvis Bay on 6 January 2023 by repeatedly inflicting blows to his head with a brick and cutting him with a knife.

Having killed his stepson, he buried Dantali’s body in a shallow grave near the harbour town’s Narraville area, Narib informed the court in a plea statement.

Dantali had followed him from a tuck shop in the town’s Tutaleni area before he carried out the fatal attack on the boy, Narib also said in his plea statement.

When he testified in mitigation of sentence, Narib told the court that Dantali was following him while he was walking to the Narraville area of Walvis Bay, and when he saw a brick lying on the ground “something came into my head, saying ‘hit him with it’”.

He also said he realised it was not right that he killed a child he had helped raise and for whom he was a father figure, and that he was angry with himself for having taken the boy’s life.

He killed Dantali because he wanted to hurt Eises, Narib said. He could have solved the problems between himself and Eises in a more mature manner, Narib said as well.

Eises told the court she and Narib had been involved in a romantic relationship for three years before they got married in January 2020.

After they had been married for about a year, Narib became physically abusive and their relationship started to fall apart, she said. At the time of Dantali’s death, she and Narib were separated.

Eises recounted that Dantali regarded Narib as his father, and that Narib witnessed the boy’s first steps when he started to walk.

Dantali regarded Narib as a father, “but this ‘father’ turned into a monster”, Shivute remarked during the sentencing.
She added that society demands that people who commit horrendous offences should be removed from the community for a long time, as they pose a danger to society.

Narib’s personal circumstances are outweighed by the interests of society by far, especially when considering the aggravating factors that Narib’s crimes were committed in a domestic setting and that his victim was a minor child, Shivute said.

She sentenced Narib to 28 years’ imprisonment on the charge of murder, and to a five-year jail term on the count of obstructing the course of justice, with three years of that sentence ordered to be served concurrently with the sentence on the murder charge.

Defence lawyer Joas Neemwatya represented Narib, who has been held in custody since January 2023. The state was represented by deputy prosecutor general Antonia Verhoef.

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